CMSN
by Makai Kodomo
Summary: "So your team is made of you, someone who likes punching stuff, a guy who's here with you, someone with dad issues, and a girl trying to be all cool and mysterious but fails trying?" "Yeah, pretty much." A story full of OCs, not following the story of RWBY.
1. Conaire

**_Conaire..._**

A young man enters a forest. This young man was Conaire. He knows why he's there, of course. He's there to train himself and prepare himself to be stronger than he already was. But before he could do that, he had to take care of the most important thing. He knew that he could not do anything without it, and without it, everything would come tumbling down.

"Where the heck is the food!?" Conaire yelled, searching his backpack. "Man, I pack everything I need, except my food! Of course I'd pack my different clothing, shield, and sword, but not the food. Wait... these aren't mine. These are Lloyd's things!" After emptying out he entire backpack, Conaire finally found an apple. "I wonder how Lloyd's doing with my pack... I'm sure he's just fine." He shrugs and lays back against a tree, taking a bite from the apple.

* * *

 ** _(Meanwhile, with Lloyd.)_**

"Next up in the mini tournament," A man announced, checking his scroll, "Lloyd and Jacinta."

Lloyd steps up, getting his weapon out of his pack, pointing it at the opponent. "Prepare!" He told her. "For I will be-"

"Uh, Lloyd?" One of the girls on the benches asked. "Your sword looks... different"

Lloyd, confused, looked at his weapon. He saw that he was holding a carrot instead of a sword. "No! This can't be happening!" He denied. "I took Conaire's backpack by mistake, and I bet he has mine!"

Everyone from the benches began laughing, making Lloyd clench his fist in anger. "I swear," He told himself, "I'm going to kill that guy when he gets back here..."

* * *

"Yeah," Conaire reassured himself. "Lloyd's probably laughing about the mix up."

Conaire jumped up and walked towards a tree. "Well, time to start training," He said. "But a warm-up first."

Conaire clenched his fists, the gloves on his hands turning into red gauntlets. Conaire smiled and cracked his neck, jumping and switching his weight between feet. From the gauntlets, blades came out, resembling claws, right above the back of the hand. Conaire threw a small flurry of punches, and the tree fell back. "Gotta remember not to chop down too many trees," Conaire reminded himself. "Just enough for those village people. After that, I'll do my normal training."

Conaire began chopping down trees, one after another. After he think he cut down just the right amount, he stopped. Protect nature and all that stuff. He started slashing at some of the trunks, slicing them in half and more in half again, then moving them elsewhere.

"Good enough," Conaire said, smiling. "Now time for the real training! Sit-up time!"

Conaire got into position, retracting his weapon and smiling. "One hundred, let's go!" He yelled out. "One!" He did one sit-up then laid out on the ground, panting. "Ugh... too lazy to do the rest... I'll just say I did them by hundreds. One times one hundred is one hundred, so I'm done."

Conaire laid back and started watching the clouds, slowly drifting into sleep. After a few minutes, Conaire got woken up by a growl. He stood up and looked around for the sound, getting his weapon ready. He slowly and quietly walked around, trying to listen to the sound, making sure not to make a sound.

"Come out, come out wherever you are!" He shouted. "Here little doggy, or grimmy, or whatever!"

Out from a bush, a grimm jumped out, pouncing on top of Conaire. It slashed, and Conaire rolled towards slashing back at the grimm, a Beowolf, big, black wolf-like creatures. He hit it on the side, knocking it into another one of it's friends.

"Guess I'm working out after all," Conaire said, looking at the Beowolves beginning to surround him.

A Beowolf lunged, followed by its friends. Conaire jumped above it and punched downwards, beginning to avoid and strike the other grimm. He dodged and punched, sometimes straight up jumping into an attack.

While Conaire was busy with the grimm in front, a Beowolf slowly crept up behind him. As soon as Conaire uppercut a Beowolf, it lunged. The Beowolf slashed Conaire's back, sending him stumbling forward. The other took their chance, slashing as well. The largest Beowolf charged, slamming its head into Conaire's gut.

Conaire was sent flying backing, hitting against a tree. "Crap," he groaned. He slowly got to his feet, the Beowolves surrounding him and the tree. Conaire looked up and grabbed a branch, breaking it off and starting to wave it at the grimm. "You want the stick, you want the stick?" He asked them. "Go catch!" Conaire threw the stick, the Beowolves simply watching it fly and hit a comrade. If Beowolves could be confused, these sure as hell were.

"Well, it was worth a shot," He told them all. "Right?" None of them responded. "You guys are no fun." Conaire clenched his fists again, the claws extending, forming into a blade. "This should spice it up!"

He jumped at the Beowolves, spinning around, hitting them with the blades. He started finding if easier, having slightly more range, slicing and slashing at the grimm, and occasionally punching and stabbing them with a blade at the same time.

Conaire jumped back and raised both fists towards the Beowolves. Out from the top of the gauntlets, a hole opened up, and a small metal cylinder popped out. "I'm bringing the heat!" Conaire called out. Fire shot out from the cylinder, out towards the grimm. Some got scorched. Others ran in terror.

"Can't handle the heat," Conaire laughed, clapping and smiling, "so get out of this kitchen!" He kept laughing, slumping against the tree the Beowolves hit him into, reverting his gauntlets back into their idle forms.

Suddenly, Conaire fell back onto the ground with a thud. He looked back and didn't find the tree, but a Death Stalker, a giant scorpion grimm. It had the tree in one of its pincers.

Conaire moved himself backwards with his hands and feet. "First Beowolves, now a Death Stalker," He muttered to himself. "What a training day."

Conaire got to his feet just as the Death Stalker threw the tree. He readied his weapons, the blades coming out. Conaire slashed the tree in half and backed away, facing the Death Stalker.

Conaire then jumped up, his fist forward, aiming for the Death Stalker. He was then met by the Death Stalker's pincer. It hit Conaire, sending him flying and hit against another tree.

"What the heck is with these grimm and hitting me against trees!?" He complained. "I mean, they're trees!"

He didn't have time to think, since the Death Stalker brought down its stinger. Conaire rolled away as it hit the tree, jumping up onto the grimm. He punched the creature in the eye, stabbing it simultaneously. He then had to quickly back off as it attacked with its pincers.

Conaire stepped back, then started circling around the Death Stalker. "Come on, now," He told it. "Don't be scared, I'm the one who probably should be."

Conaire looked behind him, and to his surprise, trees. Luckily, that gave him an idea. "I think it's time," he began, pausing and turning around, retracting the blades into the gauntlets and putting his hands on the sides of the tree, "for an Overflow!" A red glow surrounded Conaire, just as he lifted the entire tree from the ground.

He points the tree at the grimm and smirks, moving it to the side. "Let's do this."

Conaire throws the tree at the Death Stalker. The grimm gets pushed back, but quickly throws the tree back. Conaire takes the chance and runs towards the tree, jumping and landing on top of it, then, in an instant, jumping again. The Death Stalker brings down its stinger, and Conaire grits his teeth.

Conaire forces himself to move his body, turning to the side. The blade comes out from his gauntlet, and he grabs the tail. When the Death Stalker raises the stinger above itself, Conaire acts quickly, cutting off the stinger, making it land on its head.

Conaire jumps off of the tail, the blade retracting into the gauntlet. Conaire raises his fist screaming, "This one's _personal_!" then bringing it down on top of the stinger, hitting it as hard as he can.

The Death Stalker slumped down, defeated. Conaire jumped off from its head, walking towards where he put the trunks he sliced up a bit. He wiped some sweat off his forehead and smiled.

"I'd say that was a pretty good training day," he said. "That's what those grimm get for interrupting my little nap."

* * *

 _ **And so the first trailer is finished. To all those reading, there are still the other three to go, which will hopefully be up the day after the previous one. Hope you all enjoyed.**_


	2. Mavi

_**Mavi...**_

"Wait, he took your backpack, and you took his?"

"Yes, exactly!" Lloyd yelled. "I don't know how you can stand that guy, Mavi. He is such an idiot."

Mavi shrugged. "If you're so smart, why didn't you check the backpack?" Mavi asked.

Lloyd muttered something under his breath, but said nothing.

"Exactly," Mavi told him. "Whatever man, you'll get over it."

"Yeah," he said, "after I'm done killing him. Anyways, see you."

Mavi waved as Lloyd walked off and smiled to himself. He chuckled and continued walking forward.

He wasn't surprised at a by Conaire. This was like him, mixing things up and screwing things up. He remembered the time Conaire had to do a project on weapons and ended up talking about food and drinks somehow.

Mavi took a left turn and walked towards the door. He clenched the grip of his sheathed blade with his hand but let it go. He walked out the door and saw everyone was waiting for him.

"Ah, so you're here," A voice spoke. Mavi recognized it as Coach Zule. "Right on time Mavi. Your match is just about to start."

"Isn't it surprising he isn't late?" Someone asked.

"There's a first time for everything," Someone answered.

Mavi closed his eyes and laughed, scratching the back of his head. "Guys..." He complained. "I'm not always late. Only most of the times."

"Yeah sure," Someone else said sarcastically. "And Conaire always comes to school."

Mavi and others started getting into an argument/conversation that was pointless. They were just talking about how Mavi is late a lot, and conversation was starting to annoy the coach, so he decided to do what he always did.

Coach Zul reaches into his pocket and pulled out a small cylinder. It expanded into a staff and he hit it into the ground. It took several times to get everyone's attention, but it finally worked.

"Everyone shut up!" Coach Zule yelled out. "If you don't, I'll make you all do a fifteen page report on the history of grimm!"

Everyone shut up. They didn't make a sound. It was obvious nobody wanted to do something like that. Well, at least not twice. Once was enough.

"Good," Coach Zule said, smiling and laughing to himself. "Now next up, Mavi himself, and Anani."

Mavi took his place, just as Anani did. He looked at her as she unsheathed a small dagger, then it expanded into a spear. He unsheathed his own sword and held it up at about the center of her face.

Mavi did as he did before a fight, analyze the opponent to know how to block and defend. He saw it was a spear, so it was good at range, but bad at close range, which was why it could become a dagger. Mid range was his best option.

"Ready..." The coach called out, "fight!"

Mavi waited as Anani charged. She stabbed, and Mavi parried it away. He moved quickly, then stabbing, but missed as she moved back.

To Mavi's surprise, she jumped in the air with her spear and brought it downwards. From two sides of the spears, two more sharp pointed heads came out, making it look like a trident.

Mavi held his blade forwards as it changed. The sword became a shield, blocking the blow from the trident. Mavi hit the trident with his shield to the side, then used the bottom of the shield and smashed it into Anani's gut.

Anani moved back and changed her trident back into a dagger. She charged and lunged, and Mavi changed his shield back into a sword and parried. She was quick, and they soon got into an exchange of stabs, slashes, and parries.

Mizu seemed to be having the upper hand, but it quickly changed. Anani parried a slash from Mavi's sword, then let go of her dagger, catching it quickly, this time upsidedown. She hit the bottom side into Mavi's stomach, then let it rip.

Mavi was shot back by the shot. He now had another thing to defend against. That thing was combined with a shotgun. Now he knew everything, or at least he hoped he did.

Anani came at him quickly. This time she wasn't messing around. She was quickly switching between weapons, stabbing, slashing, and shooting. Mavi was blocking, but became slow. He couldn't react fast enough.

Anani changed her weapon to a trident and jabbed. Mavi stopped it by putting his sword between one of the sharp heads.

"B-Be careful," He warned her through grunts.

"For what?" She asked.

"Careful you don't get caught," Mavi began, pushing the weapon back, "in a tsunami!"

A blue glow came off of Mavi. Anani stabbed again, but Mavi deflected it with his shield with ease.

Anani began rushing at Mavi, nonstop. She slashed, stabbed, and shot, hut couldn't break his defense. Mavi was effortlessly blocking her quick attacks.

Mavi kept blocking. He wasn't changing from the offensive. He continuously blocked her hits and moved back. She kept on charging, trying to land a hit on him.

Mavi took another step back after she stabbed again. He could see she was worn out, and extremely tired. This was his chance.

The moment Anani stabbed with her spear, Mavi effortlessly knocked it aside with his shield. He made the shield into his blade and started fighting on the offensive. He slashed and stabbed, parrying away some hits, but continuing to hit Anani.

Mavi finally parried away a blow, then kicked Anani. She was sent stumbling back.

Coach Zule blew the whistle and raised his hands. "That's game," he announced. "Anani's aura has dropped to the red, so Mavi will be moving on to the semifinals in the mini tournament. Give it up for your classmates."

People began clapping and cheering loudly. The sound could probably be heard all across the school, but it didn't matter. They all kept on cheering.


	3. Sien

**_Sien..._**

Around a large stadium, the cheers and screams of the audience could be heard. They were loud enough to be heard across all kingdoms, but they didn't care. They kept on cheering in excitement.

Why wouldn't they? After all, they were at one of the biggest tournaments in Remnant. Dozens of skilled fighters always came here, had great fights, and entertained everyone. But, of course, only one could come out on top of the rest.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" An announcer spoke through his microphone. "Welcome to the quarterfinals of the Mistral region tournament!"

People started cheering louder than before. At this point, everyone was basically jumping out of their seats in excitement. But what kind of match would get people this excited?

"In this round, we have Daisy, hailing from Vacuo!" The announcer called out. "And we also have Sien Gurando, son of the famous Chikyu Gurando, who was three time winner of the Mistral region tournament! Will Sien make his father proud and win just like him? Let's find out!"

Out from one side of the arena, Sien stepped out. He looked uninterested in what was happening, sighing and slowly walking forward. He was twirling the grip of a sword in his hands, like it was a toy, as he walked forward.

"Thanks a lot, dad," He muttered to himself. "I feel no pressure at all..."

From the other end of the stadium Daisy comes out. She wears lighter clothing than Sien, which to him didn't matter much, even though she might be able to be faster than him.

She looked at Sien and smirked. "Good luck," She told him. "Even though you might not need it."

"First of all, same goes to you," Sien replied, sighing. "Secondly, I'm not my father. He has skill, but that doesn't mean I have the same."

"I see," She said. "You have enough skill to be to the quarter finals, at least." She reached her hand back and pulled out her weapon, an ax. "But you still might need that luck."

Sien stopped spinning the grip and held it to the side. Out from the grip, a large cylinder came out, expanding into the blade of a two-handed sword. "Still think I need that luck?" Sien replied with a smirk of his own.

The stage began to lower as the announcer counted down. "Three... two... one... fight!"

Sien wasted no time, placing both hands on the grip of his sword. He charged forward, swing the massive blade with little difficulty.

Daisy got hit once, but blocked the second, running closer towards him, deflecting blows with one of the sides of the ax. When she got close, she kicked, but Sien moved to the side of his sword. He smashed it into the ground, jumping over the blade to kick Daisy's back. She blocked with her free arm.

Luckily for her, Sien had just smashed his weapon into the ground. She took her chances, slashing with her ax. Sien dodged, blocking some blows his armor. He felt it not getting easier, and his heavy armour didn't help him out very much.

Sien finally tripped backwards, landing on his back. Be recovered as quickly as he could, rolling backwards. Be did it just in time, as a stream of bullets hit the area where he once laid.

"Machine gun ax," He muttered. "Great..."

Sien looked at the screens displaying his and Daisy's aura. They were about even, both a fourth taken down. He then looked at where his sword laid smashed into the ground.

He got an idea, and looked at Daisy. She was smirking at him. He exchanged looks between her and his weapon.

"Terra Guard," He whispered under his breath.

A brown glow came off of him, then he dashed forward. Daisy slashed at his side and got a clean shot on him, but he didn't even flinch or look to be even hurt. He kicked her side and moved her to the side.

"Look at this, will you?" The announcer called out. "This is a display of true son of Chikyu!" He said this while Sien was running towards his weapon, getting shot in the back with bullets from Daisy's weapon. Even though he was getting hit, his aura reserves stayed the same, not moving an inch. "This is the infinite aura, the infinite aura of Sien Gurando!"

By the time the announcer finished his last words, Sien had grabbed the grip of his sword and pulled it out, and was already running towards Daisy. He was taking the bullets head on, only blocking the ones coming towards his face with the flat side of the sword.

When close enough, he spun, bringing down his blade. Daisy attempted to block with her ax, but was knocked back. Sien charged once again, slashing and jabbing. Daisy barley had time to react. She parried a shot, but got hit with the others.

She kept trying to hit Sien, but it didn't seem to faze him at all. Meanwhile, Sien was hitting her with hard and powerful slashes coming from his blade.

Sien finally blocked a blow with the flat side of his sword. He spun around quickly, then aimed the flat side of that sword at Daisy. She tried to block, but was hit and knocked away.

"And with that, Sien moves in to the semifinals!" The announcer called out.

The sword went back into the grip as Sien walked over towards Daisy. When she looked up, she saw him reaching his hand out to her. She took it and he helped her up.

"Good work," she told him. "Good game. You're skilled. You can take a lot, and dish out a lot. That's a strong combination."

"Thanks, but don't count yourself out either," He replied. "Your quick, so don't try and block with your ax. They're not meant for defense, so I recommend deflecting and dodging, alright?"

"Alright, thanks." She went to pick up her weapon and turned to give Sien a thumbs up. "Hope to fight you again, someday."

"Yeah, ditto."


	4. Nogi

_**Nogi...**_

"Nogi!"

"Yes mother?"

"Make yourself useful and go fetch us some wood."

Nogi grit her teeth. "As you say," She replied through her gritted teeth.

Nogi sighed and got up from her bed, walking towards her weapons, two tonfas and an ax. Picking them up, she would then walk out, but not before being stopped again.

"Nogi!" Her mother snapped. "You better bring a good amount, unlike last time."

Without a word, Nogi slammed the door shut after walking out.

She stared at the ground as she went into the forest. She should be used to this, but she wasn't. Not after a day, not after a week, not after five years. That woman was driving her crazy. If only her real parents were still around. Then she wouldn't have to be with the she-devil.

With a sigh, Nogi got her ax ready, winding bad and then coming forward to hit the tree. She would hack and slash to bring back wood, doing all this hard worm in order to get something for someone who didn't even care about her.

She had thoughts of running away sometimes, but she had no idea where she would go. Well, at least not yet. She used to debate about the chances of making it to a kingdom and living with different step parents, but she didn't have any idea of where to go.

After Nogi had thought to have cut down enough trees for wood, she took her chance. She left the wood in a secure spot, along with the ax, going deeper into the forest.

All through her life, this was just about as much fun as she ever had. Running through the forest at a fast pace made her feel free, and she enjoyed it. She considered it worth it, even if she did get in trouble for being out late.

After enough running around, she decided to take a leisurely walk around there. She peacefully walked through it, but that peace didn't last long. She walked into a clearing in the forest, and saw five men. They were all sitting down, discussing something. They didn't look like kind or nice people, so Nogi tried to slip away unnoticed. Sadly for her, one of the men noticed. No trying to sneak away now.

The men all stood up and walked towards her as she got out completely. One of the guys was in front of the others, so she guessed he must be the leader. "Looky what we have here boys," He told the others. "A small, little, helpless girl."

Nogi narrowed her eyes and took a step forward. "I'm not small," She replied. "And I can make you regret calling me helpless."

"Aw, isn't she cute?" The man asked. He then put on a serious face, taking out a scimitar and pointed it at Nogi. "Listen, kid. Give us all your belongings and we promise we won't do anything bad to you. Resist, and we'll-"

He didn't finish his sentence. Nogi had already taken out her tonfas, hitting away the weapon. After it was hit away, Nogi hit the sides of the man's head with the heads of the tonfas, simultaneously kneeing him in the groin.

The man stumbled back, but then was shot back, as Nogi spun the weapons around, jabbing his chest with the rear head which, unluckily for him, was combined with a shotgun.

The other four acted slowly, but still took out scimitars of their own. They all slashed at her, but she blocked the all. She quickly went to one, doing a fast series of strikes with her weapon, not caring of how strong it was, but about how many she could get off.

After doing that, she quickly switched to the next guy. She did the same thing, giving him fast and quick strikes.

The other two came at her once again. She put both of the foreheads of the tonfas together, and they locked, becoming a staff. She quickly ducked a slash, then using the staff, swiped at the two men's feet. They dropped, one of them hitting their head and getting knocked unconscious.

The other took his chance and took his friend's scimitar, then slashed with two at Nogi. She easily blocked them, then jabbed the staff into his gut, sending him stumbling back.

The four remaining guys all started surrounded Nogi, circling her and slowly moving forward. "You're done for," the boss told her. "Before we attacking small numbers, but you can't take on all four of us at once."

Looking around her, Nogi smiled and disconnected the tonfas, preparing them once more.

"Gale Wings," She spoke softly.

Nobody heard her, but suddenly the wind seemed to get stronger, and then soon return to normal. The for men saw a yellowish glow come off of her, but shook it off. They jumped her, but would soon regret it.

Quicker than they could see, Nogi struck. She jabbed quickly, striking as fast as lightning, seeming to hit them all simultaneously, striking and shooting them with shots.

By the time she stopped, all four of them dropped to the ground. As if on cue, the one who hit his head regained consciousness. He saw his friends on the ground, with Nogi standing over them.

Nogi turned to him. "Take your friends far away from here," she commanded. "And never come near here again."

The man hurried to his feet and started dragging away his friends, one by one.

Nogi then noticed something. She looked over and realized he had left their supplies, which were a few backpacks. She walked over and opened one up.

Inside were maps, food, and more. She smiled, getting an idea. This was the thing she had been sitting for. This is something that could possibly change her life.


	5. Welcome to Beacon

Two young men stand by the windows of an airship, among many other people. They look out the window, and they stare in awe. The black-haired one points and smiles.

"Check it out," He tells his brown-haired friend. "You can see Signal Academy from here!" He starts looking around more. "Hey Mavi, what else can you spot?"

His friend, Mavi, shrugged. He looked around, but found nothing. "There's not too much here, Conaire," He informed. "Yeah, there's Signal over there, but not much other than a few dust shops."

"Yeah, you're right," Conaire agreed, looking away from the window and towards his friend. "I just want my last view of this place before we go towards Beacon."

"Whatever shorty," Mavi said, still looking out the window.

"Mavi, an inch isn't that much!" Conaire replied.

Mavi turned to face him. "What was that, shorty?" Mavi asked, putting his ear out. "It's hard to hear you all the way down there." Conaire pulled his ear slightly and Mavi backed away. "Alright, alright, I'm good."

"Good, because you're missing the news." Conaire points to the holographic screen displaying the news. It was on Vale's News Network, displaying a mugshot of a Roman Torchwick as they spoke of him.

"If you have any information on his whereabouts, please contact the Vale Police Department. Back to you Lisa."

The screen changed, now on a the woman Lisa Lavender. "Thank you Cyril," Lisa said. To the right of her, a picture showing many animal-eared people, faunus, holding up signs was showed. "In other news, this Saturday's faunus civil rights protests turned dark when members of the White Fang disrupted the ceremony." The picture changed to a picture of a red wolf head with three scratch marks. "The one peaceful organization has now disrupted-"

The video was soon cut off, replaced by something different. It was a holographic image of a blonde woman, the image being at almost every window.

Mavi gave a nudge towards the image of the woman. The only response from Conaire was a shrug.

"Hello, and welcome to Beacon. My name is Glynda Goodwitch," The woman announced.

"I'd sure like her to be good to me," Mavi whispered to Conaire with a wink.

Trying to contain his laughter, Conaire elbowed Mavi. "Shut up," He replied, finally breaking and laughing.

"You are among the privileged few who have been selected to attend this prestigious academy," Glynda continued. "Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future Huntsmen and Huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrate the courage needed for such a task, and now it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and training to protect our world." With that, the image disappeared.

"Man, that was cool," Conaire commented. "Gave me little goosebumps."

"Yeah, makes me happy knowing we're doing something good." Mavi looked out the window and saw they were approaching Beacon Academy. "Check it out, dude! We're close!"

Conaire looked out the window and saw his friend was right. He looked in awe at the academy. Even though he was doing this, he had different thing in his mind.

Doing something good... Yeah, we are, Conaire thought to himself. We're helping people. We make wrongs right and stuff... I'll be sure to do that.

Mavi waved his hand in front of Conaire. Conaire finally responded after snapping out of his trance, with Mavi laughing

"Man, 'bout time you respond!" Mavi said. "We just landed, c'mon!"

* * *

Conaire and Mavi both went out of the ship along with the other students inside of the airship as soon as it landed. The marveled at the building in front of them, the place they would call home for the next four years.

Conaire and Mavi stepped forward, walking while spinning around to get a better view of the area. They were amazed at this place, and were happy to be going to be staying here for as long as they were.

"Hey Conaire?"

"Yes Mavi?"

"Do you have any idea on where to go?"

"Not in the slightest.

"Neither do I."

Conaire and Mavi looked at each other and laughed. Conaire was surprised, as Mavi always knew where to go, but for the first time, they were both clueless.

Conaire looked around, and then decided on something. "Hey, I have an idea," he said. "Let's split up, ask around. We can learn where to go and find new buds while we're at it!"

"Sounds good to me," Mavi replied. "You ask around here, I'll look and ask around elsewhere."

"Got it."

Mavi turned, and with a wave, he waked off leaving Conaire by himself to find someone, anyone, to help him out.

Conaire went to his own side and looked around. He wondered who to ask first, as there was lots of people here. He walked around, looking at the different people as he walked past them.

Eventually Conaire bumped into someone, as he was looking at another direction at the time. He turned forward and saw it was a blonde girl, who turned around to see who bumped into her.

"Uh, sorry about that," He apologized.

Without saying anything, she continued walking forward. It was as if she completely forgot what happened just a few moments ago. Conaire walked after her, wondering what happened.

"Hey, I said sorry," he told her when he caught up. She stopped and looked at him, but still didn't say anything. "Aren't you going to say something like, 'Oh, it's fine' or something?"

"No," she replied simply. "Now leave me alone." She then continued walking

"Wh-what?" He asked, dumbfounded. What was with this girl? "Hey, can you at least tell me your name?"

She stopped and looked back at him. "Nogi," She answered, then continued walking.

"Well I'm Conaire, and you've got some cool weapons," he commented. "Can I check them out?"

She turned back to Conaire, but was surprised. She saw he had both her tonfas in his hands, even though he just asked the question. How he managed to get them was a mystery to her.

"Didn't I tell you to leave me alone!?" She asked, once again, narrowing her eyes. She snatched back her weapons and placed them on her back. "Because when I say me, I mean me and my weapons!"

"Hey, sorry!" Conaire shouted. "You could at least try and take a compliment!"

"You stole my weapons!" She objected.

"I said sorry, and I didn't plan on stealing them! But can you try and be a little nicer!?"

"With you?" she asked. "I don't think it's possible!" With that, she quickly walked off

Conaire was now left in front of the school, not sure where to go. He didn't know where he was supposed to go, and there wasn't anyone to ask. He had spent all his time talking to Nogi, and she want any help at all. He could only hope Mavi was having better luck.

* * *

Having gone elsewhere, Mavi started looking around. He found nothing, other than trees and birds. He was starting to think he had gone the wrong way, so he was about to go back and meet up with Conaire in order to tell him the way he had gone defiantly wasn't the correct one.

He turned and started walking, looking at the ground while walking. Before reaching the main avenue, Mavi saw someone. It was a brown-haired guy leaning on a light-pole.

He quickly moved over to him, to which he looked up to see Mavi. "Hey there," Mavi said, waving. "My name's Mavi."

The guy laughed and shook his head. Mavi didn't see what was so funny, but he laughed along.

"Sorry, don't know why that seemed funny," the guy apologized. He then held his hand out. "If I tell you my name, do you promise into to freak out?"

Mavi shook his hand and nodded. "Yeah, don't worry," he reassured him. "I know how to keep my cool."

"My name's Sien," he answered. "Sien Gurando." Sien then seemed like he was waiting for something, which was strange to Mavi.

"Uh, am I supposed to know you?" Mavi asked, scratching the back of his head. "Like, are you a teacher, or..."

"Wait, you seriously don't know who I am? Or who my father is?" Sien asked. Mavi shook his head. "Man, I've only been here a day, but I know you and I are going to be good friends."

"Sweet," Mavi said. "But why did you want to know if I knew you?"

"Sorry, it's just that when I tell people my name, they freak out," Sien explained. "My dad's sort of famous, his names Chikyu Gurando. He won the Mistral region tournament three times in a row."

"Well, that's cool," Mavi told him. "Dunno who you are, or your dad is, but do you know where we're supposed to go?"

"Yeah, you were supposed to go straight ahead," Sien answered. "Seriously, just straight forward into the amphitheater."

"Wow, my friend and I are stupid," Mavi said out loud. "Well, maybe just him. It's normal for him not to know where to go." Mavi then realized something. "But if you know where to go, why aren't you there?"

"What's the rush on going?" Sien answered with his question. "That's why. That, and sometimes people ask questions about me. Some people know me as Sien 'The Infinite' Gurando because of how much, or how big, my aura is."

"That's pretty cool, I guess," Mavi commented, he then realized Conaire still might not know where to go. "Look, I'll talk to you later, I gotta go get my friend! See ya around!"

Mavi ran off, waving to him as he ran. Sien simply watched as he ran.

"Well, he sure was interesting," Sien said. "Maybe Beacon won't be so bad after all."


	6. Welcome to Beacon 2

Conaire would be sitting down on the floor of the main avenue. He'd be waiting there, as he did not know where to go. He would have gone to look around, but he decided it was better to wait here for Mavi. After all, if they're going to be lost, they might as well do it together.

Conaire had his head on his hand, sitting cross-legged. With the other hand, he'd be poking at the ground and trying to pass the time by playing with just about anything that would get into his hands. It was boring, but he had nothing else to do.

Conaire closed his eyes and sighed, finding it to get more boring every passing second. When he opened his eyes, he saw Mavi quickly running towards him. Conaire quickly stood up.

"Hey, Mavi, did you-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Mavi was already dragging him away, down the main avenue. Literally dragging. Conaire felt his shoes skid across the floor. It felt like he was getting dragged by a rhino running at the speed of lightning.

"No time to explain, dude!" Mavi told him while dragging him along.

Conaire was dragged through the area by Mavi. They eventually stopped at the amphitheater, seeing as there were dozens of other students here, all talking and standing around.

Conaire forced his arm away from Mavi, who was still gripping it. "I know you said there was no time to explain," Conaire told him, "but couldn't have you just shouted for me to run?" Conaire lifted up one of his feet. "You dragged me so fast that I'm surprised my shoes are still intact! And these are my favorite too!"

"Sorry about that," Mavi's apologized. He was looking around at the others, not looking at Conaire. He then looked back at Conaire and smirked. "On the bright side, we're here and we're not late!"

"Yeah, I guess that's good."

"By the way, how'd your search for this place and for friends go?" Mavi asked. "I'm guessing not too well, considering you were alone and sitting on the ground."

Conaire sighed and kicked at the ground. "Like you said, not that great. How about you?"

"It was pretty good for me," Mavi said. "I met this one guy, he was pretty... cool?" Mavi seemed to think about it for a bit, but ended up with a shrug. "Not sure how you'd describe him. His name was Shen Groundy, or something."

"That name rings just about no bells," Conaire responded. "Still, would be cool to meet him. Did you see his weapon?"

"No. Didn't seem like he had anything on him. All he had was some pretty heavy armor."

"Heavy armor like what?" Conaire poked at Mavi's chestplate. "Compared to you, or compared to someone with no armor?"

"Compared to someone with heavy armor."

"S-seriously?"

Mavi nodded. "Yeah. All he was missing to complete the set was a helmet."

"He must be pretty strong, then," Conaire said. "Maybe he has, like, a club. I don't know, something you need strength for."

"Alright, alright, alright," Mavi said, waving both his hands as a signal to stop. "Who'd you meet?"

Those three words made Conaire's eye twitch. He remembered Nogi, and how she'd acted. Those few moments were enough to make him dislike her. She got made over what? He just looked at her weapons! Conaire knew he was completely in the right.

He grew a sour look and slumped down. After doing that, he quickly stood straight up again. "Someone not so nice," Conaire said. "I met this-"

Before he could finish he was cut off again, but this time by someone different. It was by Professor Ozpin, who was readying his mic. "I'll... keep this brief," he said. "You've traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you are finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But when I look amongst you, all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction."

The crowd began to murmur, some students silently whispering to each other.

"Is he kidding?" Conaire whispered towards Mavi. "If we didn't know our purpose, why would be here?"

"Conaire..." Mavi complained. "I... not all people know their purpose... Some people are here to find their purpose. Not everyone is like you."

Conaire wanted to ague, but he knew his friend was right. It shouldn't really be a surprise to him that Mavi was right. Mavi was usually always right. He was never stupid, or did anything that was stupid, unless Conaire had made him. He has only been ignorant of some things.

Still, Conaire wondered how it felt to have no purpose. He knew what his purpose was, ever since he was small. It was clear to him ever since he was small, so it was weird to think people didn't have a purpose, or haven't found it out yet. He hoped they found it out soon enough.

"You assume knowledge will free you of this," Ozpin continued, "but your time at this school will prove that knowledge will only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

With that, Ozpin stepped aside, allowing Glynda, who had been standing behind him, to talk. "You will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready."

"I've been ready my entire life," Conaire muttered.

Mavi stayed silent, staring up at where Ozpin and Glynda soon.

"That was good, though," Conaire said. "I like him."

"Yeah," Mavi agreed, finally snapping out if it. "But didn't he seem sort of..." He raised a hand and moved it side to side.

"He seemed pretty fine to me. But let's get going, we need that rest, you know."

* * *

Conaire laid back on a pillow, looking up at the ceiling. He had already changed out of his normal clothing and into his pajamas. He wasn't thinking about anything, just staring up at the ceiling.

Having gotten bored in the next minute, he sat up and looked over to where Mavi was. To no surprise, Conaire saw Mavi was looking at the girls from across the room. He was doing weird things like winking and waving. If he was trying to flirt, Conaire could tell it wasn't working.

Conaire gave him a little shove, but it didn't seem to get his attention. He shoved a bit harder, and, again, it didn't work. Getting tired of this, Conaire pinched his arm. In pain, Mavi snapped out of it.

"Hey!" Mavi complained.

"Hey," Conaire said in a flirtatious tone, seeming to mock Mavi.

"Shut up!" Mavi said. "I was workin' my charm."

Conaire burst out laughing at Mavi's response. "You mean the nonexistent one?"

"It exists! Wanna see?"

"Oh, absolutely," Conaire said through laughter.

Mavi ignored him and Conaire watched as he looked over to some girls. Conaire watched as Mavi smirked and waved. Mavi soon followed up by winking and pointing at the girls. The smirk was enough to make Conaire laugh, but the wink killed him. He was laughing so hard he didn't even see that Mavi's flirting didn't work.

After Conaire stopped laughing, he smiled at an annoyed Mavi. "Such charm. Much work. Wow."

Mavi kept on giving an annoyed look until he got an idea. "It's a delayed reaction!"

"Sure it is," Conaire said sarcastically. "Whatever helps you sleep."

Mavi ignored the comment, starting to look around the area. "I can't believe it, man. We're finally here. We're at Beacon. Home. We made it."

"Believe it man," Conaire said. "I'll pinch you again if you want to make sure it isn't a dream."

Ignoring what Conaire said again, Mavi laid back. "Man, I just can't believe we're here. I mean, are we good enough?"

"Dude, we're more than good enough," Conaire told him. "If we weren't, we wouldn't be here. Just make sure they don't know I cheat on my exams."

"You what?"

"Kidding."

Mavi, relived, looked around the area. He then spotted a familiar face in brown long pants and a brown shirt, sitting against the wall while staring up. Without saying anything, Mavi grabbed Conaire's hand and dragged him over again.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Conaire protested when they got there. "Is today 'Cut Off and Drag Around Conaire' day? Can't believe I forgot! Seriously, you better start warning me."

"Sorry again, Conaire. Just got excited!" Mavi said. By this time, Sien had looked towards them, wondering what was happening. "Conaire, meet Shen Groundy!"

"Sien Gurando," Sien corrected.

Conaire held out his hand. "Nice to meet you, Shen!"

"Sien," He corrected again, shaking Conaire's hand.

"Sien, you're going to probably like Conaire," Mavi stated. "You said you liked fighting or something, and Conaire loves having matches with people!"

"So Mavi met you back when we were lost?" Conaire asked

"Yeah," Mavi answered for Sien. "I think we've got to make it up to him somehow."

"No, it's fine," Sien said. "You not knowing me is enough." He stood up and looked at Conaire. "I'm guessing you know me, right?"

"Wrong," Conaire stated plainly. "I have no idea who you are."

"Seriously? Man... I know I was promised I wouldn't get swarmed, but I expected at least one person to recognize me today."

Conaire and Mavi shrugged simultaneously and then had a laugh with Sien. The laughter was soon cut short by someone.

"Hey!" Someone shouted. "Keep it down!"

The person walked over, and the second Conaire laid eyes on them, he clenched his fists. He also got an annoyed look on his face, the same one the person got when they saw Conaire.

"Oh great," Nogi said. "I shouldn't be surprised that it was Hot Head causing the commotion."

"What did you call me!?" Conaire demanded.

"Conaire?" Mavi asked. "What's-"

"Hot Head!" Nogi repeated loudly.

"Take that back, Fan Face!" Conaire demanded.

"Fan Face? What does that even mean!? And I'm not taking it back!"

With that, the two started arguing. Mavi tried to intervene, but Sien pulled his back, shaking his head. He told him that it seemed useless to stop the two from fighting. All they could do is wait and hear the insults and comments being thrown back and forth. It seemed that even a slight mistake in pronunciation of a word could lead to a big insult.

Soon enough, lots of people could hear. Mavi watched as one person got up, a big guy dressed in a bit too much black, walked over to Conaire and Nogi, and gave an annoyed look. Without saying anything, the guy put his hand over both their mouths to shut them up.

"Now, now," he said, "let's not fight. Let's solve this peacefully."

"Huh? Who are you?" Conaire asked. "And what peace can you make with... her?"

"My name is Adeth," the guy said. "And it's simple."

"Simple? Him?" Nogi questioned. "Don't make me laugh."

"I won't," Adeth promised. "Here's the options, you two separate and go to sleep, or you two separate and go to sleep."

Without a word, Nogi obviously chose an option and started to walk away.

Conaire looked like he wanted to argue, but before he could say anything, Mavi covered his mouth like Adeth did. "Door number one, please," Mavi answered.

Mavi then walked back to where both him and Conaire slept, followed by an annoyed and angry Conaire. Conaire laid down and didn't say anything for a while. "Thank Adeth for that," Conaire told Mavi. "He did something good. We could've woken up everyone."

"Yeah," Mavi said. "Today has been an interesting first day."

"Yeah."

"Hey Conaire. You and that girl..."

"What about us?"

"You seem like a good couple."

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Just because two people make good friends won't make them a good couple. And we're not even that, so that's not likely."

"Whatever you say."


	7. Team?

"So, are we going to be on the same team?"

"What do you think?"

"I think you answered a question with a question. But are we going to be on a team?"

"Of course we are Amethyst."

"Thank goodness," Amethyst sighed. "Jadira and will be together forever. Right?"

Jadira didn't respond, looking off to the side.

"Right?" Amethyst repeated.

"Get me a pancake and I'll think about it," Jadira replied. "Nothing's free, you know."

"Yeah, I'm not doing that."

"And that's why we'll be together forever. Come on, let's go get our stuff."

Jadira pushed herself off the wall, starting to follow Amethyst, who had already started to walk away. While walking, she looked at her surroundings. The nicely made school both her and her best friend were attending. How they got in was surprising, as she thought they had both failed.

Luckily enough, they didn't. Now they were here, a day had passed, and neither of them had caused any trouble. She just hoped they could keep this up, and that they'd both be on the same team.

Entering the locker room, Jadira quickly went to a locker. Out from it, she pulled a small cylinder, which she then put into one of her pockets.

"All ready?" Amethyst asked afterwords.

"What do you think?" Jadira replied. "Heck yeah I'm ready! We got this far, no point in going back now!"

"Boo-yah! That's the spirt!" Amethyst called out, giving Jadira a hard pat on the back, causing her to stumble forward. "Team Jaimethyst for the win!"

"First of all, we need a better team name," Jadira said. "That one doesn't exactly have a ring to it."

"Good, I didn't like it either," Amethyst admitted.

Jadira and Amethyst laughed together, enjoying the moment of peace they had.

In the next second, a guy with a way to casual red hoodie walked over. She could see what looked like a salamander circling a flame on the left side of the hoodie. Why he was wearing something so casual was unknown to him, as he should be wearing something along the lines of what the guy in the chestplate next to him had on. Then again, her friend didn't exactly wear the appropriate things, either.

"Hey, I'm Conaire, and we heard you two were talking about teams," He introduced.

It took a while for Jadira to comprehend the simple thing he said. "Uh, yeah. I'm Jadira, and she's Amethyst," She said. "One question though, why are you wearing something so... casual?"

"Casual is his thing," The one with a chestplate explained. "You learn that he's like this when you're with him. I'm Mavi, by the way. Nice to meet you."

Conaire lightly elbowed him. Mavi elbowed back. By the way they were doing this, Jadira could tell they were both good friends. More than good friends, actually. They were along the lines of childhood best friends.

"Nice to meet you two dudes," Amethyst replied. "Did you guys have a question about the teams?"

Conaire nodded quickly. "Yeah, just one. Do you guys have any idea how they'll be chosen?"

"No, not really," Jadira admitted. "We're just hoping they don't choose them for us so we can be in the same team."

"I don't really mind, unless I don't get paired with... someone."

Both Jadira and Amethyst gave him a strange look. Did he have a grudge against someone already? It's only been a day! Then again, her and Amethyst both got into a fight on the first day once at Signal.

"As long as it's a cute girl or something, I'm good," Mavi stated. "A guy is fine too, though, I guess." He shrugged.

"Well, that was pretty much it," Conaire summed up. "Let's get going Mavi."

Mavi nodded and started to follow Conaire as he walked away. As they walked away, Jadira and Amethyst could clearly see them elbowing each other every once in a while.

One they were out of sight, all Jadira and Amethyst were doing was looking at the area in which they walked away in, having a moment of awkward silence.

"They seem like good friends," Amethyst finally said.

"More than just that," Jadira corrected.

"Yeah. They're like brothers."

"Agreed." Jadira smiled and punched Amethyst's shoulder lightly. "Just like how we're like sisters, right?"

Amethyst punched back, a little harder. "Right."

Jadira rubbed her shoulder from the punch. "Any harder?" She asked sarcastically.

Amethyst's reply was a simple shrug and laugh. A few seconds after, an announcement was sent over the intercom.

"Would all first-year students please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation?" Glynda announced over the intercom. "Again, all first-year students report to Beacon Cliff for initiation."

Jadira looked at Amethyst. "That's our cue."

"Let's do this," Amethyst replied.

* * *

Several students stood on silver tiles on Beacon Cliff, overlooking the large forest that was in front of them. A bit off to the side was Professor Ozpin with a cup in hand and Glynda Goodwitch with a large scroll.

"For years, you have trained to become warrior," Ozpin stated. "Today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."

"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about teams," Glynda said. "Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. "Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be assigned teammates... today."

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone whom you can work well with," Ozpin continued. "That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

Conaire, who was standing on the last silver tile on the right, looked towards his left. Mavi was standing there, already smiling. Conaire smiled back and laughed.

This felt good for Conaire. Four years paired with Mavi would be great. They had been friends for so long, so it was natural for them to be partners. They could already work well together, and knew how they other fought, so there would be little to no problems.

The only problem here was actually finding him. They would be launched into this forest, so Conaire had to do his best to find Mavi before anyone else. That could be hard, and if Mavi was already taken, Conaire wasn't too sure he would be able to manage with a different partner. And Conaire wasn't too sure he qualified as a "cute girl."

"After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path... or you will die."

With that happy note, people started to look at each other. While some looked confident and ready, there were also those who started to look a bit nervous.

"You will be monitored and graded through the duration of you initiation. Our instructors will not intervene." Ozpin looked at Glynda, then back at the students. "You will find an abandoned temple at the end if the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. You will guard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?" Nobody said anything. "Good, now tame your positions."

Seeing as how people started to get into special stances, Conaire looked over at Mavi again to ask a question. "They didn't hand out anything, right?"

"No, not that I know of," Mavi replied.

"So we make our own landing strategy?"

"Basically, I guess."

Conaire unsheathed his gauntlets and took a look at them. "Have you come up with one yet?"

Mavi had already taken out his sword. He held the blue grip with both of his hands down, bending down with it. "Yeah, got it all figured out," Mavi revealed. "And you?"

Unknown to Conaire, students were already being launched off. "Nope."

"Why am I not surprised?" Mavi sighed, then laughed. "Alright, you just-"

Mavi didn't finish the sentence. In the next second, he was launched out towards the Emerald Forest, leaving Conaire without any suggestions.

Not sure on what to do now, Conaire readied himself as much as he could, preparing for the launch. In the next second, he was sent into the air, falling towards the Emerald Forest. Meanwhile, Ozpin watched as they flew off, taking a sip of his coffee.


	8. Into The Forest

The wind rushed into his face as he charged forward. Mavi, with a blink of his eyes, smiled, reaching towards the scabbard at his side. He would place his hand on the grip of his blade and unsheathe his weapon.

He would be drawing nearer towards the trees that were apart of the forest. Any normal person wouldn't have time to react quick enough to do what Mavi was planning in his head, and had planned since he was on the silver tile on Beacon Cliff.

He blinked his electric blue eyes, and they seemed to glow. As this happened, the sword was held out in front of Mavi. From the side of the blade, more metal would come out, making his heater shield. He moved the shield down towards his feet and aimed for a tree.

He knew he was going quicker than he should, but he already knew that this would happened and planned for it. The top of a nearby tree came by, and Mavi, as if expected, reached out towards the top. He grabbed onto it, but appeared to have let go just as quickly. Even so, he felt as if he was slowing down just enough to hit his destination.

And that's exactly what he did. The metal of his weapon stabbed right into the tree. Mavi, seeing as how he was at a high part of the tree, reverted his weapon back into its sword form and stabbed it into the tree as he slowly descended towards the ground.

Once he hit the ground, he wasted no time. He flipped the sword from being upside down to its normal form in front of him. Holding the grip with both his hands, sword held towards one side, he ran forward.

Meanwhile, Conaire was doing the exact opposite of his friend. He was traveling down towards the forest at a quick rate, and without a plan.

He clenched his fists, and his weapon went out from its idle form. His black gloves sent out metal that went up below his elbows, forming the bright red gauntlets he used.

The wind blew against his face hard, and the view wasn't helping, because he couldn't see anything. Unlike Mavi's trip, Conaire had to try and avoid getting dirt into his eyes.

Conaire had a simple plan, which was to make it up as he went down, which wasn't much time to think. Every tree that came before him was smashed into pieces by his gauntlets.

He continued doing that over and over again, smashing the top of trees to clear his way. Then, on one of the swing, he swung too early and missed his shot. Before he could comment anything on his mess up, he got hit with the top of the tree, sending him falling downwards while spinning in a circle.

Out from his gauntlets, a sharp blade came out. It reached out above his fists, a few inches shorter than a foot. Conaire didn't do anything graceful, doing the exact opposite, actually. He swung wildly in horizontal slashes. By sheer luck, his blade finally met the wood of a tree, and Conaire used his other free blade to hit the other side of the tree so he wouldn't get slammed into a tree.

Now that he stopped falling, he looked down towards the ground, which was below him. Without a second though, or any thought at all, he would sheath the blades into his gauntlet, causing him to fall to the ground. He hit the ground on his back, and got the air knocked out of him.

After about a minute of laying on the ground, Conaire finally caught his breath. He slowly got to his feet, but had to lean on one of the tree for support. He looked around and saw that there was nobody.

"I'm chalking that up as a victory for me..." He stated.

Pushing against the tree, Conaire would stand on his own two feet. After dusting himself off, he would prepare to run through the forest. He had wasted enough time fooling around, now he had to find someone to partner up with.

He ran quickly, wishing he could be quicker. Suddenly something dropped from the trees a few feet in front of him. He clenched his fists as he ran forward, about to strike what he thought was a grimm.

He brought his fist forward as it whistled in the wind, bringing it towards the grimm for a hard punch. But it wasn't a grimm. It was Nogi, who had just landed. She heard the whistle in the wind and looked back, seeing the fist coming directly towards her face.

Nogi would bend back, the fist being literally inches from her nose. Before the arm could be retracted, she was already going the rest of the way, doing a back flip while simultaneously kicking Conaire's hand upwards. Once she was back on her feet, she wasted no time grabbing her tonfa and charging forward.

Conaire had already brought his fist back from the air, blocking the rapid hits with the metal of his gauntlets. He felt them being more focused on speed, as she used the speed to deal out quick burst of damage.

Nogi sent out a jab with one of her tonfa, and Conaire sent out a kick with his foot. He felt his foot connect with her abdomen, but at the same time felt the strong tonfa forehead hit the side of his face.

Both he and Nogi were sent sliding back. He had both his hands up, in fists, in front of his face in his fighting stance. He saw as Nogi did the same, preparing her own fighting stance to suit her own fighting style.

Their eyes locked, and there was silence. A gentle breeze blew by the two of them, moving Conaire's messy black hair out in front of him, and moved Nogi's short blonde hair behind her, but they both stayed put without a move.

Conaire's right eye twitched slightly. He lowered his guard and dropped his hands and slumped down. "Great, we're partners..."

Nogi did the same and sighed. She placed her weapons at the sides of her waist and looked off to the side, closing her eyes. "No use in complaining. I doubt they'll let us switch partners, so let's get going. Don't screw anything up." She started to walk away, obviously expecting Conaire to follow. Then she stopped and looked back. "By the way, I won that fight."

"What!" Conaire yelled. He ran after her, starting to say what he thought had been the outcome. "It was a draw at best!"

Nogi laughed, finding it amusing. "I landed more hits than you did. You gave me a good kick, that's all."

"I blocked those hits and the first shot was lucky! We both landed one good blow. Hey, are you even listening? Nogi, you get back here and admit it was a draw!"

* * *

Sien had just landed down in the ground, sword stabbed into the Earth as he jumped down from the grip of his large weapon.

Now in the ground, he reverted the blade back into the sheath, which was just having the blade go into the grip, and put it at the belt at his waist. He brushed his dirt brown hair back, and looked around. With a shrug, he would start to move forward into the forest, seeing who he would end up with.

He started to consider his choices. He thought of Mavi, who seemed alright, but was starting to wonder about his fighting abilities. Then there was Mavi's friend. What was his name again? It was Conaire. He seemed... decent. Then there's the girl who complained. She is a no go. The last person was the Adeth guy, and he didn't do much. All Sien hoped for was that whoever his partner was, they could carry their own weight.

Sien continued to walk in the deep forest. He looked around, then saw how the forest was like. It wasn't bad, it seemed nice. The trees were bright and healthy, and the sky was clear as day. It would be a good place to come to to relax. On the other hand, this place was also infested with grimm.

The second Sien remembered the grimm, he came upon several trees. These were all different from the normal trees, as they had claw marks on the trunk of the tree. There were also broken off branches and twigs on the floor. To make it even better, Sien heard a growl from behind him.

In the next second, a Beowolf jumped out from a bush. The Beowolf had its claws ready, cutting through the air with ease as the sharp and dangerous claws were brought down upon Sien. Sien, however, was already prepared. His arm was brought up to block the powerful blow with his heavy armor.

Even though it was blocked, he could still feel a bit of pain through the armor. But, after all, he was used to pain at this point, for more than one reason. Sien pushed the claw aside, and then quickly brought up a foot, which he used to kick into the stomach of the beast.

The black beast was sent back a few feet, skidding across the dirt on all fours. It began to circle around Sien, waiting for a moment to strike. Then, it pounced. The grimm was quick and agile, much more than Sien was with the armor. But he had already fought with so many opponents that were quicker than him and won, all because he learned to use their speed to his advantage.

As the monster neared Sien, he would take a step to the side in order to avoid the attack. The Beowolf swiped as he passed, missing Sien by a few inches. But Sien wouldn't let it get off easily. He brought up his gauntlet and hit the backside of the Beowolf. Sien knew the gauntlet wasn't for fighting purposes, but he used it either way.

The beast one again skid across the ground on all fours, turning and facing Sien. By this time, Sien already got the grip from his belt and had gotten it out as his giant two handed weapon of destruction. "Enough playing around."

Without hesitation, the beast leapt at Sien once again. He would raise his armored boots, kicking the beast's chin, stopping it in it's tracks. With both hands firmly grasping the grip, he would bring his blade upwards into the sky, using it's weight to help as he smashed it onto the grimm, vanquishing it.

"Well that was boring." Sien reverted the weapon back to it's idle form.

Sien sighed from the battle. It had been exciting for him for the first few minutes, but he found it to have ended too quickly, and to be too easy of a fight for him. If only it could have been a pack of Beowolves. That would have dragged on, and more than one enemy coming at him would have been much more fun.

But there was no time to think about that now. He had to move on and find a partner, and that's what he did. He continued his walk, continuing to look around the forest. Going through a bush he would look out to see someone who looked familiar. After a second, it came to him that it was Mavi.

Sien also saw a Beowolf peering out of another bush. Instead of warning Mavi, he would wait. The Beowolf would strike, but Sien wanted to see just what Mavi had in him. He wanted to see if he would be a good partner. _Come on, Blue Boy, show me what you can do,_ Sien thought.

The Beowolf leapt from the bush, using it's claws to slash at Mavi. Mavi, as if expected, drew his sword, the metal going around and forming his Heater Shield. The slash would be blocked, and then Mavi bashed it into the beast. Just as quickly, the shield would revert into a sword.

A second Beowolf would jump out at Mavi, but he would slash at it while kicking the Beowolf in front of him. Sien wondered how he had reacted as quickly as he did to the second grimm. He doubted that he himself would have been quick enough to slash it if it had not been in sight.

The two Beowolves launched themselves at Mavi once more. Mavi moved aside, allowing both of them to run into each other's heads. The two monstrous beasts would be temporarily dazed. Taking his chance, one of the beasts would be kicked away. The second, however, would meet a barrage of Mavi's slashes, finishing with a stab.

The remaining Beowolf would have now regained it's balance, moving on all fours towards Mavi, obviously going for a headbutt. Mavi's shield would protect him from a blow that would have knocked him on his back, but the hit would still cause him to skid back a few inches.

The beast unleashed a powerful barrage of slashes, and Sien watched as Mavi stood his ground. The Beowolf wasted no time in its next move, slashing downwards at Mavi's feet. Mavi jumped the slash, bring his shield down on the Beowolf's head, dazing it once more. The shield would be in sword form in no time, but Mavi didn't do any fancy slashes, he simply struck the beast and defeated it in a single stab.

With both beasts down Mavi would sheath his blade. He scratched the back of his head and took a good look around. "Hey, Shen, you can come out now."

"What? Wait, how did you know I was here?" Sien stepped out form his hiding place and went up to Mavi. "And it's Sien. How many times do I have to remind you?"

"Last time, I promise." Mavi smiled and gave a thumbs up. "I'm sure to remember my partner's name, even if he isn't a cute girl. Come on, let's get going." Mavi started to walk away, and Sien followed.

"I still don't know how you knew I was there," Sien said as they walked.

Mavi laughed. "You should be a bit quieter with your 'Oohs' and 'Aahs', dude."

"Seriously? I was whispering."

"I could still hear you, and the heavy armor you have makes a lot of noise. But, that might just be on the count of my Semblance."

"What does it do?" Sien asked.

"My senses are a bit better than the average Joe, and my reaction time is way better," Mavi answered. "Helps out with my fighting style. The only problem is when I get hit. I get hit and I-" Mavi felt a small flick to the side of his head and saw nothing at all. "Go blind," he finished.

"Wait, you can't see anything? Do you just see blackness?"

"I see nothing," Mavi answered.

"Are you serious?" Sien asked.

"Yes. Positive." Mavi waited for a response but heard nothing. "Sien? Sien, are you there? Hey, dude!"

"Sorry," Sien laughed. "Just wanted to make sure." Sien soon got a smack to the head. "Ow. I thought you couldn't see."

"Yeah, but it doesn't last an hour. Only about a minute or a few seconds for a hit like that!"

"Just wanted to know what I'm dealing with. Come on, let's keep going."

Sien motioned to go ahead and started to run. Mavi smiled and ran after.


	9. Into The Forest 2

Conaire and Nogi were both surrounded by a pack of Beowolves. There were a total of about fifteen at first, but after various attacks and strikes from both Conaire and Nogi, their numbers were dropping.

Conaire put out his fists, and from atop his gauntlets, the small silver cylinder would emerge. Fire was shot out from the cylinder, scaring away some of the grim, while burning the others. The cylinder would go back into the gauntlets, just in time for Conaire to duck under a Beowolf strike, and then kick it into a nearby tree.

Conaire looked over to check up on his partner. Nogi was having next to no trouble, striking grimm down with a hit with her tonfas, soon followed by a shotgun shell to increase the impact. Conaire saw a Beowolf sneaking up on her and dashed over, surprising her as he stabbed it with the blade which had extended out from his gauntlet.

Conaire would pull his hand back and kick the slain Beowolf away. He looked at Nogi with a smirk. "Point me. You owe me one."

Nogi would sigh, but then gain a look of anger. Conaire watched as she lifted her tonfa and struck, but closed his eyes before she punched. He slowly opened an eye and saw her punch was sent next to his face, where the grimm that he had knocked into the tree had been. "Point me," She stated as she retracted her arm. She looked at Conaire for a few seconds, then looked away before saying something else. "Now we're even."

She turned and continued her walk, soon followed by Conaire. After that Conaire began to notice Nogi looking back at him every once win a while. Why she was doing that was beyond him. He didn't have any idea as to why, and it was really starting to bug him. But before he could say anything, each of them were knocked in separate directions.

Conaire got up, holding his head and saw a Death Stalker had snuck up on them and hit them with it's pincers. Nogi was already up and giving blows to the face of the Death Stalker.

She gave a quick barrage of strikes, then kicked it in one eye. She back flipped away to gain some distance, but the large, golden stinger was about to be brought down upon her. Conaire acted quickly and pushed her out of the way, and they both landed next to each other on the ground.

Conaire got up from the fall and helped his partner up as well. "Draw that thing's attention for me, will ya?"

Nogi looked at him again. "Sure. But I hope you have a plan."

"I do," he reassured her. "Just keep that thing away from me for thirty seconds, that's all I need. And if you could drop the stinger on top of it, that would be highly appreciated."

The two of them rolled away from another one of the attacks form the stinger. Nogi gave it a few shots and they both ran. "I see. You want me to drop the stinger on it to penetrate the strong armor. But why do you need the thirty seconds."

"For once, I have a plan, so can you just go with it? Just know, might be a bit less than thirty seconds, so be ready. I'm going to charge at you, and you have to use those weapons of yours to shoot me into the sky, towards the Death Stalker."

A grin grew on Nogi's face. "A plan where I get to shoot you? Count me in."

Conaire and Nogi dashed away in opposite directions. Nogi drew the large, black scorpion grimm towards her with shots from her weapon. Meanwhile, Conaire got into a running position, a fiery red aura starting to form around him.

Nogi fended off the Death Stalker. When it brought it's stinger down, she'd put her tonfa together to form her staff. She would then hit in between stinger, damaging it as much as she could.

The grimm wouldn't stop there, however. It tried to knock her away with hits with it's pincer. Nogi used her staff to boost herself into the air, evading the ground attack. She then launched the staff at the stinger, as it was propelled forward from the throw, and the shotgun shell that was blasted out.

The stinger was severed from the tail, falling upon the grimm. It landed in the armor of itself, and the armor wasted no time in cracking as the stinger pierced it. Nogi looked toward Conaire and saw he was already sprinting towards her, and she quickly reverted her staff into tonfas.

He jumped, and Nogi bent down as he balanced himself on her weapons. "Lose some weight, would you?" She complained while she held her weapons. Despite that, she pushed her bent arms upwards, rocketing Conaire into the sky with a blast from the weapons.

Up in the air, Conaire could see across the forest. He looked down as he fell, face first. He felt a surge of energy in him, a rush of power, and he couldn't help but give a wide grin and laugh.

He brought his fist down, onto the stinger of the Death Stalker, forcing it to completely piercing the armor and skin of the huge beast. It was defeated in that one blow. Conaire stood on the top of body of the defeated enemy. He was laughing loudly, and to Nogi, he seemed a bit crazy.

"Hey, you alright there?" She had walked over and was staring up at him. "Like, as in your head. Nothing got damaged when I launched you up?"

Conaire jumped down from the Death Stalker and took a deep breath to call himself. "I'm fine. My body may hurt a bit, but I'm fine."

"Your body hurts?" She asked. "I may have shot you, but your aura should have protected you. Or, at least, made the pain somewhat bearable. So, why does your body hurt?"

"My Semblance," He explained. He raised his arm and pointed at it. "I gain strength over time. As in every second. That's why I asked you to buy some time for me. Takes a while, you see."

"Yippee, I know your Semblance." She pretended to be happy and did some jazz hands, but returned to normal. "Now can you tell me why you're hurting?"

"Calm it, Gunfa Girl, I was getting to that. The longer I use it, the stronger I get, and that helps me when using Djin. But if I overuse it, my muscles start getting strained. The longest I've held the thing was a minute." He shivered. "And boy, did that hurt like hell. I just pushed about fifty seconds, so it hurts a bit."

"Ah. Alright. But don't call me Gunfa Girl. I'm just calling you Hot Head because you seem to be a bit hot headed. And who the heck is Djin?"

"I am not hot headed!" Conaire shouted. "And Djin is what I named my weapon. Don't act like your weapon doesn't have a name. It probably does. Right?"

Without a response Nogi started to lead once more and Conaire sighed while he followed behind. She continuously looked back and looked at Conaire, just as she did before.

"Alright, what's up?" Conaire finally asked.

She looked back at him as she walked. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, why do you keep looking at me?" He cleared up. "I wouldn't consider myself handsome, much less attractive, so what's wrong?"

Nogi stopped and turned to face him. She took a deep breath and mumbled something under her breath. Conaire asked her to repeat it. "Your... your scar. The one on the right cheek. How... how did you get it?"

Conaire was about to say something sarcastic. He thought she was joking, or trying to make fun of him. Then he saw the look on her face. She looked like she really wanted to know. "Look, it's in the past. Don't worry about it. If you want to know, I got it in an accident with a Beowolf," he told her. "It's not the only scar I have, just so you know. But the past is the past."

There was an awkward moment of silence. Nogi stared at Conaire but didn't say anything. "Thank you," she finally said. "I was just curious. I hoped-" She stopped herself. "Never mind. Let's just keep going."

While walking, Conaire couldn't help put feel the scar going from the upper right part of his cheek to the lower left part. He sighed and shrugged it off, then wondered how Mavi must be doing.

* * *

"Woo-hoo!" Mavi blocked an incoming attack from a Beowolf. "Block and hit, this is how we do it!"

Sien slashed the Beowolves, then, knocked them all onto a tree with the flat side of his sword. "You know it! Man, we're a good team."

"You've got that right," Mavi agreed, fist bumping with him and continuing on.

"Wait, so that a Death Stalker? Mavi, get ready! Mavi? Please tell me you didn't- Oh great. He ran. Mavi, wait up!"

* * *

A girl wearing camouflaged armor would peer out from the bush. She was on the ground, then brought out her weapon. It was a large sniper riper, and she looked through the scope to find any enemies.

Behind her was her partner, a taller male wearing what would be what a Shaolin Monk would wear. "Do you see anything?" He'd ask her.

"No," Iridot responded. "Wait, no, I see movement. Getting ready to shoot. Get that naginata of yours ready, Daima." Iridot placed her finger in the trigger and waited for the cross hairs to line up. When they did, she wasted no time in shooting.

The bullet flew through the air, towards what Iridot thought was a grimm. It was actually Jadira, who had bent down when she found tracks. She heard a small whistle through the air, and grabbed her weapon, a cylinder which expanded into a staff. Grabbing one side of the staff, she pulled out a sword, and let her instincts kick in as she sliced the bullet in half.

Daima had moved forward and came out from one of the bushes, jumping and bringing his naginata down on Jadira. He was cut off by her partner, Amethyst, who met the blade with a punch from her gauntlet. A literal explosion happened, sending the three back.

Iridot would then jump and take her chance. Her sniper switched into an ax, and she swung it onto Jadira. Jadira had grabbed the other end of the staff and pulled out another blade, and blocked in an X shape. Iridot would press down hard, but Jadira would kick her back.

The four would each take a stand with their partners, all ready. Jadira with her two blades out, and Amethyst next to her, gauntlets up and boots ready. Iridot had her sniper in hand, and Daima was next to her, with his naginata ready. It was a simple standoff.

Iridot took a shot towards the two. She shot once and was able to shoot off the second shot of her bolt action sniper rifle at an amazing speed. Jadira put her weapons back as a staff and spun it to deflect the shots while Amethyst covered her eyes.

Daima wasted no time in going towards Amethyst. He used the wood of his naginata in order to push away Jadira, and then met Amethyst's gauntlets with his weapons blade. He tried to keep her back with his weapon's wooden shaft, but she kept pressing on.

Amethyst then sent a punch towards the face of Daima when close. Daima felt the metal gauntlet hit his face, and was sent back. He felt pain, but, he looked on the bright side. He got some ground, which made up for it. Well, at least that's what he kept telling himself.

Daima would send a quick barrage of stabs towards Amethyst. She would either block them, or try to get a hit off and ending up getting another cut in her clothing. Eventually, they were going blow for blow.

Amethyst finally threw both her fists forward for a punch. Daima raised his naginata, and then brought it down, sending the fists to the ground. He met her face. "Wait a second-"

Jadira and Iridot met blades. Iridot pressed her ax hard, but Jadira did the same with her twin swords. They would both be pushed back, and Jadira rushed towards Iridot. Iridot was crouched down, and then threw dirt towards her opponent's eyes, blinding Jadira temporarily.

Jadira rubbed her eyes, but by the time she could see, Iridot had gone into hiding. She didn't drop her guard. She knew her opponent was a sniper, and was probably lining up her shot. She kept her swords ready, the one in her left hand now turned upsidedown with the flat against her arm.

She heard a noise come from behind her. She turned and slashed downward with her upright sword. She simply slashed at a tree. Jadira then saw the rock which had been thrown at the tree and realized what was happening. A bullet whizzed passed her head.

She quickly put her two weapons together to form her staff once more. She tried and guess where the bullet would be, but simply failed and felt a sharp pain in her knee. Now she realized she had to focus and learn where the bullets came from. With he next bullet that missed, she was able to decipher where her opponent was.

Jadira jumped forward and brought her staff down. Iridot rolled forward from the strike, avoiding it as she came out from the bushes. Jadira wasted no time in the next strike, jabbing her staff forward. Iridot countered and struck back.

The two began a quick exchange of blows. The blows came fast, and struck hard. One could not strike without the other returning with a strike of their own. Eventually Jadira once more uses her two blades. She spins, and then slashes. Iridot uses her ax and slashes down, about to meet with her opponents.

Suddenly, Iridot's weapon is sent stabbed into the ground. At the same time, Jadira's blades are knocked away.

Iridot looks at the one who sent her ax into the ground. "What the hell, Daima?"

Daima removes his naginata and places it on his back. "Sorry. But why are we fighting? We're all humans here."

"Yeah Jadira, calm down. Daima here is fine." Amethyst agreed to his statement after retrieving Jadira's swords. "Sorry about that."

Jadira puts her swords together as they form back as her staff, which then quickly goes back to being a cylinder. "It's fine. I already see you and... Daima, right? You two have introduced yourselves. But what about Ms. Sniper over here?"

Iridot would hold her weapon downwards as it folded into a square. She then placed it on her back. "Iridot," she answered. "Sorry about that. I guess it's just my bad luck that I shot a human. We really get into the moment, don't we?"

Amethyst laughed and nodded in agreement. "No kidding!" She exclaimed. "That was awesome though! Hey, let's all travel together! We look like a good enough team. All four of us. Jadira, the one and only Amethyst, Iridot, and Daima. It's perfect."

The other three looked at each other. They all seemed to be just a band of randomly placed together. But Jadira had a feeling her friend was right. She might not always be right, but this just had something about it.

"I'm on board." Jadira moved next to her friend. "I don't know about you guys, but I think this can be a pretty good team. Thoughts?"

"Staff and twins swords, gauntlets and boots, sniper and ax, and a naginata," Daima listed off. "Random, right? The idea seems crazy, but you guys seem alright. How about you, partner?"

Iridot's nod spoke for her answer. "Sure. We might not all seem like a very normal team, but it's still better than-" She cut herself short. The others resisted the urge to ask what she was about to say. The look on her face was enough.

With that, Amethyst began to lead on. The three others soon followed


	10. Meet

A Beowolf runs towards the opponent directly in front of it on all fours. It begins to lift up a claw, then gives a side slash towards the opponent. It appears to hit, but all the Beowolf was able to hit was the shadow of the opponent, and left a large claw mark onto the tree. The Beowolf was beginning to get irritated. Every time it slashed the enemy, it saw a clear hit, but all it would hit is a tree, or miss completely, with the enemy reappearing behind it.

One again, the Beowolf turned and stood on it's hind legs. A howl was heard through out the forest. It charges once more after getting on all fours, and towards the young man in the black jacket. The Beowolf jumps off the ground, slashing at him with all four claws. The enemy seemed to turn entirely black, the aura radiating off of him. The slashed sent a ripple through the black aura. Before the Beowolf was able to comprehend that the enemy had evaded it once more, it was hit with a dozen slashes, and hit a tree, slain.

"I'm sorry about that." Adeth sheathed the nodachi and walked over to the Beowolf. He placed his hand on it's head. "But this was necessary. Your brethren thank you."

A girl would drop down from the trees, slightly shorter than Adeth. She wore samurai-looking armor, and had long blonde hair, tied back in a ponytail. "Adeth, you seem to have everything under control." Nasam looked into his eyes as he smiled. "And those beautiful silver eyes are still there as well." She then looked behind him. "I see overkill is still you."

Adeth turned to look behind him to look at what she meant. He saw many of the trees were sliced down and several of them were knocked over and on the ground now. There were also branches everywhere. It was a major difference than before he had attacked. The trees were nice and beautiful, and it would seem like a great place to relax and train. Now there was this mess.

He then turned to the Beowolf he slayed. It had slashes in many places, all a result of himself and his Semblance. He pondered the strength of the Semblance if the tiredness that came was it was removed. He could be unstoppable. But, alas, he had that weakness. He was panting heavily. The slashes took a lot out of him. "Oh, you know me well," Adeth said. "Now, come, we must move quickly."

Adeth would lead Nasam as he moved forward. The moved aside some of the long wooden branches that were close to the ground, letting him pass. Nasam ducked as the branch as it swooped over her head. "You shouldn't use your Semblance so much," Nasam commented. "You'll tire more quickly. I can hear you panting."

"He deserved a good death," Adeth said, unemotionally. "Just as all his brethren do."

"But-"

Adeth turned and pointing the tip of the nodachi at Nasam's neck. He saw her bite her tongue and stop before she said more. Without another word, the weapon was sheathed and the two continued.

Adeth went through the forest with Nasam, and then looked up into the sky. He saw the beautiful sight of the might blue sky, a single cloud soaring overhead. A single bright green leaf would fall from a tree, landing onto the lush green grass, right where Adeth would step and squish it.

He went over what he would do, and how he would do it, along with who he was meeting. It was two men, Kauve and Shung.

Kauve was an intelligent young man, and very dignified. Adeth recalled how he always wore something proper, such as a suit, along with his glasses. He always looked calm and composed, but Adeth knew how he was like. He would be a monster in the battlefield.

Then there was Shung. He always wore things that really showed off his muscles. Usually it was beachwear, such as a muscle shirt along with some shorts. Adeth knew this was because of his Semblance, though.

Adeth and Nasam eventually got to where they were supposed to. Kauve sat on a stone, his back facing Shung's, wearing his usual suit to look professional, while Shung wore his beachwear, looking the complete opposite of Kauve.

"Finally!" Shung stood and went over to Adeth and Nasam. "Kauve was starting to bore me. He kept going on and on about politics! Man, was he annoying. Have you ever spent-" Kauve lightly touched Shung's shoulder, and he dropped down, struggling to stand. "Damn it! I hate it when you do that."

Kauve adjusted his glasses. "I'll let you up when you apologize."

"For what?"

"Calling me boring and making me waste stamina on doing this," Kauve answered. "Idiot."

"Kauve." Adeth sounded strong and firm. He looked into Kauve's purple eyes, and Kauve looked back at his silver ones.

That was enough of a signal. Kauve would nod in obedience, then kneel down, next to Shung. He lightly tapped his shoulder once more, and Shung got up and dusted himself off. "You're lucky I don't squash you," Shung warned.

Kauve ignore him. "So, who do we have here, Adeth?"

Adeth would close his eyes and begin to remember. He then opened slowly when he had everything ready. "Four people met so far. First, a boy named Mavi, he has a sword that can turn into a shield. Well enough of a threat. Next, a female, Nogi, tonfa into a staff, big threat. Finally, Sien Gurando. Major threat. A recognized prodigy."

The three others seemed to waited. Nothing came. "Who's the last person?" Shung asked. "You said there was four. You listed three." Shung could have sworn he then heard Kauve silently comment something like, 'Oh, it can count.'

"The final one is a young man named Conaire. Not a threat." Adeth would check on all three, seeing if they all got it. They nodded in response. "Good. Move out."

Adeth and the three others would begin to move forward. For a while, it stayed like that. Then Kauve came up to Adeth. "Boss, when do you plan to start?" He asked.

Adeth gave him a small grin. "Soon enough, Kauve. Patients is what is needed. We wait, see if what I reported is confirmed, then initiate step one." Adeth signaled for him to go back.

Kauve nodded and did as told. And so, the four people in this clan would continue through the forest, Adeth leading, and slicing any grim, leaving all unharmed.


	11. Queen

The bright, yellow sun brightened up the forest in which the students of Beacon Academy had just been launched into by their professor, Ozpin. Trees were everywhere, some broken down and left with claw marks or slashes from the Grimm and students.

One of these trees soon was parted. Adeth himself slashed the blade of his nodachi through a branch, making it so himself, along with his three other members, would be able to pass. Adeth was first, of course, followed by Nasam, lightly touching the grip of her katana, Kauve, small book in hand, and Shung, holding the strap of his backpack with one hand as it passed over his shoulder.

"We are nearing the relics," Adeth announced, unemotionally. "Do not let this make you drop your guard. Grimm are near. I cannot afford to lose any of you, especially you, Kauve."

Kauve gave out a long sigh, but continued to read his book. "Understood, once more."

In what seemed like half a second, Shung took his backpack off, but the strap stayed on. It formed into a boew and Shung nocked an arrow from the quiver that had formed on his strap. He closed an eye and aimed, releasing his arrow.

The arrow flew from the bow, and rocketed forward. It whistled through the air, towards the intended destination. The metal tip of the projectile then pierced the black fur of an Ursa, causing it to come out the other end. The mighty beast fell with a roar.

The three looked towards Shung. He shrugged nonchalantly. "What?" He asked. "You said we can't lose him, so I took care of the nearest grimm."

Adeth was the first to move on from what had just happened. He knew Shung wasn't telling the truth, and he was soon getting more bored by the second. Silently trekking through the silent forest and avoiding any danger was not at all what he had wanted. But it was for the betterment of the team. If he didn't do as told and went off screaming in a rampage, drawing grim, Kauve would have to put him down for a while.

The small group of four continued through the forest. They eventually parted the trees, with Adeth sheathing his weapon at the sight. He looked down, seeing as they were on higher ground, and gazing upon the green grass ahead of them in the clearing.

The true destination was right ahead. A circular temple made from stone. From the looks of it, this could have once been a nice temple, but now it was decrepit. Stone pillars held up what was left from the top, and slight pieces of the temple were broken, and fallen stones laid on the ground. Moss was growing, hanging from the pillars.

Adeth, along with the others in his group noticed what was left of the temple, the only things seeming to be untouched by time, or at least cleaned up. There were platforms, each of them holding the relics, some gold and others black. Without a word, Adeth took a step forward and slid down the hill and down towards the lower ground.

He slowly descended, and then jumped from the side. He landed down on the grass, in a kneeling position with his head down, and then rose. He walked towards the temple, the others quickly joining him.

He and the rest of the team reached the temple and set foot in it. The four began to do as they wanted. Shung was keeping himself busy, staring at the destroyed parts of stone and moss. Kauve studied the temple, bringing out his notebook in order to write down what he saw. Nasam studied the relics, which were chess pieces.

"Which ones should we get?" Nasam stood, having to bend down a bit to get a good look at the relics. She looked at Adeth for the answer. "You should choose. Each set of partners has to choose a piece."

Adeth pondered which piece he should choose for the team. He wanted to choose a piece that would suit his interest and one that suited what was needed in his plans. There was no second thought in his mind as to what piece the group should choose.

"This one," he said. He picked up the black queen piece. "The queen. It suits what we are doing. Plus, a king, such as myself, is nothing without his queen." He studied the piece as he spoke.

Adeth looked up and saw Shung grabbed the other queen already. He was staring off into the distance, tuning out what he was saying. Kauve was taking notes. He saw Nasam, and saw as she made direct eye contact. Seconds later, her face turned a shade of red, and she looked away quickly.

Adeth told himself there was no need to try and figure out what she was thinking. There was no need to do so, and all that was needed was to follow the next step in the plan.

* * *

Conaire never really had much of a problem with Ursai. They were big, yes, but he could see them as small and cuddly stuffed animals. Was that weird? Yeah, but he still couldn't shake that thought.

To him, even the actual grimm wasn't bad when he had to fight them. They were heavy hitters, but they struck about as fast as a snail, and that was on a good day. A few ducks and jumps was all that was needed, and then a good strong hit to either its chin or gut. He liked how it was simple for him.

He didn't like being chased by around fifteen Ursai. He especially didn't like it when Nogi continuously shot down his ideas. She could totally annoy all of them to death. She was close to doing it to him, after all.

Conaire would snatch a branch from a trees, then throw it towards the Ursai. "I'm telling you, it will work!"

"And I'm telling you that I should give you to them for dinner!" She replied.

The two continued their sprint, jumping over fallen trees that occasionally came up, and having Conaire smash through paths. Eventually Nogi would place a hand on Conaire's shoulder to signal to stop.

"Hey, I'm supposed to be the dumb one," he complained, looking in the direction of the continuously following grimm. They were relentless. "Why did we stop?"

Nogi responded by spinning her staff and finally stopping it on the ground behind her. "Shoot the fire from the flamethrower at me when I spin this."

Conaire didn't know what to say, but any chance to shoot fire at this girl he'd take it. His gauntlets were extended, and the silver cylinder popped out as Nogi begun to spin her staff outwards.

Flames spewed out from the cylinder, onto the staff. The heads of the staff would catch fire. Conaire wasn't sure whether this was logical or not, but man, did it look cool. Or hot. Whichever

He watched her turn towards the area of the grimm. She made her staff into her tonfa, and then would continue spinning it from the grip before smashing the foreheads together for a fraction of a second, then continue to spin them.

"I'll need you to back me up, alright?" She looked towards Conaire but didn't wait for an answer. "This fire should give more of a hurt to the Ursai."

"Let's kick some Ursai butt," Conaire responded.

"I'll take eight, you take the remaining seven," Nogi told him.

"Wait, why do I get less?"

"Because," she said, rolling her eyes, "you're a slower hitter than me."

"But I'm a stronger hitter."

"Conaire, look, if you want more, then you can take on nine while I deal with six. Are you good with that?"

"Yes."

"Finally," she sighed. "You're like a little kid."

Conaire didn't have time to respond. The fifteen Ursai finally showed up. The fourteen all behind the one out front were all the same. They had black fur, as dark as night, and had bony spikes on their backs and arms, along with bone-like masks with red detailing. Their red eyes seemed to glow.

The leader was an Ursa Major. It was like its companions, but much larger. It had the same mask and spikes, but also had bony plating on its back and legs. The red eyes of the beast radiated anger for having driven it so far as it stood on its hind legs to let out a ferocious roar before getting back onto its normal position.

Conaire grinned wickedly. "Mine."

Conaire was on the Ursa Major in a heartbeat. He rammed in and caught the Ursa Major with a strong uppercut to the chin, knocking its head upwards, allowing for Conaire to continue his onslaught of hits.

He worked on his footwork as more Ursai came at him. He moved his feet as they came at him, but maintained the same position with his knees bent. He knocked one Ursa into another, then blasted away three into a few trees. The last three were taken care of one by one.

Nogi was keeping herself busy. She kept her tonfas spinning as she rammed them into Ursai. Her quick barrage was unmatched, knocking away two Ursa with a strong jab with her tonfas, a shotgun shell blast, and a burn from the flames.

Her tonfas eventually got locked together to form her staff, which she kept spinning. She knocked away three Ursai with a smack of her staff and finished up just as quick as she started.

She didn't have much time to celebrate, as the Ursa Major would then clap both her and Conaire together, extinguishing the flaming weapon. They grunted, and Conaire looked at her. "So, ideas on taking down the Ursa Major? Punching didn't work. Even in the sweet spot."

"The sweet spo-?" Nogi stopped herself as the two jumped back. Those few seconds between the jump and landing where enough for her to realize what he meant. Conaire knew this and couldn't help but smirk as she looked at him with a bit of red on her face. "Shush. And I don't have anything his time. Can't you pull out your semblance again?"

"The more I use it, the quicker my body gets damaged," He admitted with a sigh. He pushed Nogi out of the way and attempted to match the Ursa Major's side swing with his own punch, but failed and got knocked into a tree. Nogi saved him, running the forehead of her staff into the Ursa Major's face and blasted it with a shotgun shell before it bit down on him.

She helped him up quickly and got into her battle stance just as fast. "Anything sharp?" She asked, moving her eyes away from the beast and towards Conaire. "Decapitation would be great. Sadly, I don't have any stab-stab item on my staff or tonfas."

Conaire raised a fist, and a blade popped out of the top of his gauntlet, above his fist. "I have this. But it's gotten a slight bit dull," He admitted. "I'm not a stab-stab kind of guy. But I have an idea. I'll show you why I used to be called the Salamander." He then gave a thumbs up before running at the Ursa Major.

He two blades retracted, and Conaire jumped into the air. He clashed his gauntlets together, sending sparks outward. The crystal of dust used for his flamethrower would break, and near the gauntlets streams of fire would be seen flowing around it.

Conaire hit the ground and didn't miss a beat. His arm flew up to meet a slash from the Ursa Major. It made a rip in his hoodie, but he didn't mind. He swiftly moved his fist over to the Ursa Major's stomach, and landed a strong blow, sending pain coursing through the body of the beast.

Conaire knew this wasn't the only thing. It felt as if it had just gotten a blast of fire to its stomach. It would feel like a strong scorching blast, making the large bear jump off the ground lightly to gain some ground.

The streams of fire were gone, but Conaire knew this was their effect. Each one of his punches would already deal a good amount, and the effect of the dust would help immensely. But he had to at fast. The time limit of three minutes was ticking down.

Conaire threw a quick flurry of punches towards the bear. It stumbled back, up until Conaire lowered his body, making it follow his fist as he landed a clean uppercut. "Feel the flame!" He laughed. He ducked a blow, but he then got a headbutt, seeing him back wide-eyed.

The Ursa Major then growled. It began to charge towards Conaire, who was ready in his battle stance. There was a surprise, when the large bear launched itself off the ground and over Conaire. He gazed at its stomach and realized it was charging towards Nogi.

Nogi was slow on the draw. She pointed the forehead of the tonfas at the beast. She was still too slow on her fire. She punhed straight, but it was all in vain.

Suddenly, the bear was launched towards a tree. Nogi glanced at it, seeing a large mark on its stomach, along with its head now laying elsewhere. She saw a bits and pieces of a strong material. She followed the trail back towards her direction.

Finally, she looked towards where the bits ended. It was at Conaire, who was standing with both fists stretched out forward. He was panting heavily, and Nogi could see his eyes. They seemed to be lit ablaze. An aura of fire seemed to come off of him.

Suddenly, the fire in his eyes ceased, along with his aura. He dropped to he ground. He felt pain coursing throughout his whole body, most of it being towards one of his arms, as it stung with pain, all while feeling as if something was dripping and sliding down his arm.

Nogi quickly went over to check on him. "Are you alright?" She asked. She looked over at Conaire's arm, and her eyes widened. "Oh man... you're bleeding quite a bit."

"S-seriously?" He stuttered. He looked over and saw blood flowing from the cut he Ursa Major gave to him. It went straight through his hoodie and cut. "Well, that's a thing... no worries." He ripped the rest of his hoodie and held it out towards Nogi. "Uh... mind tying this around the wound? It's red, so I guess people won't notice the blood."

Nogi nodded and grabbed it and began to do as he said. "Thanks for the save. I guess you don't get a point for that?" She asked.

Conaire laughed lightly, but groaned in pain afterwords. "No, guess not. And it wasn't a problem," he said honestly, "my body just does things without my brain sometimes. I activated my semblance and just brought out the blades and stabbed. Now my blades are shattered and my body hurts from using my semblance again."

"What was that thing you did, by the way? You know, when you smashed your fists together," she asked when she finished. "Looked fancy."

"It was dust. The dust I use for my flamethrower." He held out his good arm and the silver cylinder of his flamethrower poping out. It hurt, but he maintained it for a few seconds before returning both weapons to their idle forms. "It breaks with a hard enough clash, and then gets attracted to the surrounding gauntlet. I came up with his while making my weapon years back."

"That's pretty smart. You may be stupid with other things, but you're at least smart combat and weapon-wise." Nogi stood up and looked around. "Can you stand?"

"Of course I can!" Conaire replied, then attempted to stand. He winced in pain and then sat back down. "Not. I cannot. My aura's all depleted and the pain isn't helping. My semblance isn't helping either." He sighed and closed his eyes.

Conaire opened his eyes and saw Nogi sitting next to him, looking down. "What are you doing?"

"Waiting for you to get better. No point in going without my partner."

Conaire squinted and looked at her. "Are you doing his just to get even with me?" He asked.

"Don't make me slap you," she replied. "I just don't want to leave you here. It would suck to come back to Beacon and say my partner died before even getting to the relics."

"Thanks," Conaire said in a sarcastic tone. "You really do care..."

"Just shut up and lean back and relax. Makes my life easier."

Conaire would laugh lightly, then do as she said. He leaned back and laid on the ground. He stayed there quietly, watching the clouds pass with Nogi until he was rested and at his best.


End file.
